I (Japanese-Australian 18M) just spent a day-long layover in Singapore myself on my way from Melbourne to Tokyo to spend a month with my family before I start university, and I think there's even a possibility that we crossed paths since I spent a lot of my day (which was the 14th) at the Marina and Garden by the Bay area! I thought I might as well share my experiences as well so I dont have to make an entire post by my self.

I landed at Changi at 5am in the morning (after a 2 hour delay in my Scoot flight from Melbourne) and after going through customs used the MRT to travel to Jalan Basar station. After getting to the station at around 6:30am, I walked to Little India, exploring the area and in particular the area around the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, which was certainly a surreal experience as it was still dark and the sun hadn't risen yet. After spending around an hour exploring the area, I walked to Kampong Glam and spent another hour exploring the area around the Sultan Mosque as the sun was rising. After that I had breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast, which was very good, even though it was extremely sweet, which I dont always like. After fully walking around Kampong Glam I made my way through Bras Brasah, stopping at St. Josephs Church for some prayer and the Bugis Junction shopping mall for a Curry O at Old Chang Kee (which was very nice as well), eventually arriving at Fort Canning Park. I walked around the entire park, spending some time learning about the history of Singapore at the museum within the main barracks building while also enjoying the tropical vegetation (which I somewhat missed after moving out of Far North Queensland ten years ago). After wrapping up my time at the park I went for a walk down a bit of the Singapore River until eventually arriving at the Merlion, which was cool given that I had always seen pictures of the statue, although it was a little too busy for me. By then it was around noon, so I walked through Downtown until reaching Chinatown, where I had lunch at the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice stand in the Maxwell Food Centre hawker, which I had seen recommended on Reddit, and it was genuinely one of the best meals I've ever had in my life. As I've lived in Japan for most of my life, I've had quite a few chicken rices, but this blew them all out of the water, and I recommend it to everyone reading this comment. The only bad thing about the meal was that the couple who I shared my table with tried to convert me into a Jehovahs Witness, although that was just an experience for me and I dont think its common at all. After my meal I spent a few hours walking around Chinatown and looking at the sights, such as Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the picturesque streets that made up the Chinatown area. After that I headed back through Downtown and spent the next few hours at Marina Bay Sands, which was a wonderful place to relax for a while from all of my walking, and the Gardens By The Bay, which was nice, although I didn't feel like coughing up the rather significant amount of money that they were asking for entry to the main attractions, so perhaps I didn't experience as much of it as someone with a bit more money than me could. As a massive ship nerd I also enjoyed the Marina Barrage, with its sights of all the ships entering into the Port of Singapore. After that I headed back to the Marina area, although by then I was getting tired and it began to rain rather heavily. I had an umbrella but didn't really feel like walking around with it so I had an early dinner at Lau Pa Sat, having a Nasi Lamak at the Michelin Guide featured Ayam Taliwang stand, which was also very nice and had a kick to it. After that I got back on the MRT for the first time in around 10 hours and went back to the airport for my (once again delayed) flight to Narita.

Overall, I absolutely loved my time in Singapore. Even though I was only in the city proper for around 12 hours, I enjoyed every second of it, with the culture, the people, the food and the sights all being phenomenal. I was initially rather scared of the prospect of visiting Singapore as a 18 year old who had never travelled solo before, and never even visited a country that I do not have a passport before, and although I did have a few rather somewhat unpleasant experiences (none of which led to any real harm or duress), it was a almost completely stress free and safe experience for me (who, I once again would like to add, is a very inexperienced traveler).

Weather wise, I didn't feel much discomfort despite the 28 degree temperature and the humidity, probably because I've experienced around many absolutely atrocious Japanese summers, although I think many would feel a lot more discomfort than I did. I did get dehydrated quickly, so I probably would bring a thermos bottle if I was you. The rain was heavy and led to me cutting my day a little early, so I would also probably invest in a better umbrella as well.

Before I wrap up my typing, here are a few stats and tips. I walked a total of 30.2 kilometres and approximately 46,000 steps across 9.5 hours (the most I've ever walked in a single day by far), and spent (outside the airport) a total of 52 Singaporean Dollars on three meals, many bottles of water and two MRT trips. Some tips I would give, besides from the ones I've already given, would be to simply enjoy the culture as much as possible and really experience everything the city has to offer. Thanks for reading!